Friday, November 21, 2008

R.E.S.T. STOPPED: CHICAGO ALDERMEN DENY HOMELESS SHELTER

EXCLUSIVE - THE BENCH - Four aldermen on Chicago's north side flatly refused another alderman's pleas to help find space for an endangered homeless shelter.The men's shelter in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood will be shut down on December 1 and evicted from the church that has housed it for 25 years. The City of Chicago said it would pay for a temporary space for the shelter until May 1, 2009.
The problem, however, is that nobody is willing to open any space for the shelter, operated by Residents for Emergency Shelter (REST), a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. REST operates a number of shelters in Chicago (contact info below). The one that will be shut down has been at the Epworth United Methodist Church at 5253 N. Kenmore (at Berwyn) in Uptown for 25 years.
The shelter is in Edgewater, in Alderman Mary Ann Smith's 48th Ward. Smith reached out to fellow aldermen in neighboring wards and pleaded by phone with them to find space for the REST shelter in their wards until May 1st. All of them were staunch supporters of Barack Obama. Each refused to help. All are Democrats. Each professes to care about the homeless. They are:
Alderman Joe Moore (49th Ward)
Alderman Eugene Schulter (47th Ward)
Helen Shiller (46th Ward)
Patrick O’Connor (40th Ward)Alderman Smith held a meeting to discuss the future of the REST shelter on Wednesday night, October 29. It was a standing room only crowd. See the story at News-Star.More Photos: